Aspen

Avalanche

Ben Luck · Dec 7, 2019 · Aspen

Snowpack

We observed cohesive slabs sitting on top a faceted, unsupportable lower snowpack on shady North aspects, 9000-11600'. Lots of collapsing and cracking.

Avalanche

We observed the remains of two recent avalanches: - R4 D1.5 off the north side of Sheep Mountain at 11500' (see photos). The crown was 150' wide with an average estimated of depth of 2.5 feet (did not measure) and ran 200 horizontal/100 vertical feet. The slide released on a convex rollover (low 30 degree angle, did not measure) and propagated into low angle trees on the skiers left side of the avalanche. It's unknown if it ran naturally or was remotely triggered by another party in the area earlier in the day. We also saw a large natural avalanche across the Crystal River valley that ran ~1000' vertical in steep, north facing terrain at ~12000'